Is it Time to Stop Aid to Haiti?

Humanitarian aid in Haiti has been an utter failure that causes more harm than good. Consequently, all aid agencies should leave and allow Haitians to regain control of their country and decide how to fix it. These are the two provocative ideas the author of Tales from the Hood, makes in his latest blog: http://talesfromethehood.com/

That these are the thoughts of someone with two decades of experience in humanitarian relief work, makes them worth evaluating. At World Accord it makes us ask two questions: Is the assessment right? And, How do we respond?

“A graveyard of good intentions.”

The author argues that international help in Haiti has been an unmitigated failure. I saw his point on my recent visit to FIDA-PcH, our new partner there. The already bad situation was highlighted by the debacle of post-earthquake aid and reconstruction. Aid efforts can only be called an epic failure.

To begin with, there has been little to no community involvement. Imagine putting in a well for a village, but training no one to operate it, and providing no parts for when the pump breaks. The well sits unused.

Imagine building desperately needed houses with materials so shoddy they won’t make it past the first rainy season. Putting up new neighbourhoods in land so far away from transportation and other services families cannot find jobs.

Another example? Imposed economic policies and donations that dump rice and other grains into Haiti. Unable to compete against subsidized grain, Haitian rice farmers go bankrupt.

Then there’s the food-for-work programs, which cause resentment and mistrust; missionaries practically trying to buy parishioners with food and resources; and the hundreds of secular groups eagerly flying youth into Haiti for exposure to “the real world.”

These are just some of the examples of the “graveyard of good intentions,” as our partner Betsy Wall, director of FIDA, said in a recent talk for World Accord. All this because no one bothered to listen to the those who matter most, the people of Haiti.

World Accord teams up with FIDA-PcH

There’s a massive chasm between ‘aid work’ and appropriate, locally-owned development work. I witnessed farmers growing food and learning to conserve soil and water. I saw community coming together and new co op members learning to work and hope together. I observed the dignity and hope on the faces of new readers and writers at literacy classes. Most importantly, I saw communities that were defining their priorities and development paths themselves. All of it run by Haitians.

This is the work of FIDA-PcH

I know these examples prove that it is possible to support locally-led, democratic development. The critical question is: What makes the difference? Our partner, FIDA-PcH arranged for the small group I was a part of to meet Jaloki, a local artist & cultural interpreter. He offered some clues,

Haitian history has been marked by exploitation, genocide, and slavery. We live in the world that is the result of that history. I can’t change it myself, you can’t change it yourselves. We need each other. Haiti is an amplification of what is happening in the world.

For more than two hundred years, Haiti has suffered colonialism in different forms; at first, brutal and direct. More recently the colonialism has been subtler but equally destructive. Part of the solution involves foreigners giving up the imperialistic notion that “we know best.” That outsiders can “fix Haiti.” The author of the Tales from the Hood blog argues that this has been at the root of the problems Haiti faces. That self-determination and development cannot be separated. At World Accord we agree, but we think it is possible to stand behind locally-led, democratic develolpment.